


Rain in the Desert

by TheKnightOfHeart



Series: Fixing a Broken Heart [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, Kissing in the Rain, Maybe Also Making Out a Little in the Rain, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Post Voltron: Legendary Defender Season/Series 07, Sad Keith (Voltron), Voltron: Legendary Defender Season/Series 08 Fix-It, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, but no one has to know, hopefully it makes you :) too!!, not really but idk what else to tag it tbh, there's angst but also it's really fluffy, writing this made me :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 03:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21264056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKnightOfHeart/pseuds/TheKnightOfHeart
Summary: Keith is silent for almost an entire minute. Lance considers asking again, but something tells him that Keith is thinking very hard, not outright ignoring him. When he finally answers, Lance almost doesn’t hear him, and even then, he whispers another “what?” because there’s no way he heard Keith right.Keith suddenly stands straight up, his shoulders squaring and chin raising ever-so-slightly. He’s still trembling, but the set of his jaw and scowling lips show no weakness. “I’m in love with you,” he barks, clearer and louder than the thunder rumbling above them. “I’m in love with you, Lance, and I can’t keep pretending that I’m not.”Lance doesn’t freeze up, but he feels himselfstop. He doesn’t blink, he doesn’t breathe, his heart is oddly quiet despite his recent exercise, and his brain seems to have stopped processing information. Instead, it just holds onto this new revelation, unsure of what to do with it.





	Rain in the Desert

Lance barely registers anything other than the boy he’s running after. He spares no thought for his quickly-drying throat or his tightening chest or his sore legs and lungs or the rain that has begun cascading down from the sky. He only registers any of it enough to swipe his hair out of his eyes, grit his teeth, and force himself to run faster.

He feels nothing but frustration and panic and a bone-deep determination to chase Keith down and _make_ him listen. To what, Lance isn’t sure. He hasn’t exactly rehearsed what he’s going to say, but he figures that he can cross that bridge when he gets there. He’s always had a hard time keeping his soft and squishy feelings to himself, and there’s just something about Keith that makes that even harder than usual. It’ll probably be as easy as just opening his mouth and letting go of his common sense.

“Keith!” Lance yells again, and to no one’s surprise, it’s just as ineffective as the first fifty times. A lesser person would probably give up, but Mamá didn’t raise no quitter. Besides, Lance is pretty sure he’s gaining on Keith. Either that, or the slightly bulkier Paladin is beginning to slow down. Endurance running had always been more Lance’s forte than Keith’s.

He realized with a start that they were suddenly running towards the hangar the Garrison had given them to house their Lions. If Lance had much breath left in him, he would’ve started laughing hysterically. Was Keith really going to make him chase him all around the solar system? Lance would do it, of course, but it wouldn’t be easy. Red was fast, but Black could apparently teleport with those wings of hers.

Lance felt like crying for joy when Keith goes to pull on the door only to find it locked. He spins around, clearly gearing up to run a different direction, but Lance takes advantage of his momentary loss of momentum to put on an extra burst of speed and grab his arm.

“Let go!” Keith demands, trying immediately to wrench his arm out of Lance’s grasp.

“No!” Lance growls. He hugs Keith’s arm close to his chest and glares. “Not till you listen to me! I’m sick and tired of not talking, Keith. We’re clearing the air.”

Keith raises his free hand like he’s going to shove Lance off or maybe even punch him, but he gives up before Lance can even brace himself. He ducks his head and half-turns away, hiding almost his whole face behind a heavy, sopping wet curtain of mullet (if it’s even still considered a mullet and not just long).

“Well?” Keith spits. If Lance didn’t know Keith as well as he does, he might’ve mistaken the slight shake to his voice as anger.

Lance feels some of his frustration disappear, but there’s still plenty left. Taking a deep breath, he loosens his grip on Keith’s arm, fully prepared for Keith to run again. Surprisingly, he barely even reacts.

Okay, moment of truth. He really should’ve practiced this, huh? Ah, well. Lance is good at adapting and going with the flow. Some of his best conversations had been completely improvised. It takes him a few seconds to get the words out, but when he does, he suddenly can’t stop them.

“I missed you,” he starts. “I know you weren’t gone for that long on our end of things, just a few months, but it felt like literal decades. You left a-- a _void_, Keith, not just in the team but in _me_. I didn’t even realize how much time I’d started spending with you, how much I’d started valuing our friendship until you weren’t there anymore, and I was left basically all alone.

“A-and that’s the other thing! I don’t think I’ve ever explicitly said it, but we are friends. At least, we _used_ to be. I don’t know if we really are anymore, what with how strained things have been, but that’s part of the reason why I chased you down. You’re important to me. I can’t stand to keep losing you. So _please_, Keith, tell me what’s wrong. Tell me why you keep pulling back, why you _literally_ ran away from me.”

Lance never begs, but for Keith, he’s more than willing to. _“Please,”_ he whispers, taking a hesitant step closer.

Keith flinches and rips his arm out of Lance’s loose grip like it’s burned him. He stumbles back, but his back meets the side of the hangar. He could run, but he doesn’t. Instead, he slumps like someone’s taken all the energy out of him. If Lance’s eyes aren’t deceiving him, his shoulders are trembling.

“I ran because I can’t keep pretending,” Keith confesses after a small pause. The hollow grief in his voice is something Lance hasn’t heard since Shiro disappeared, and even then, it was never this stark.

“Pretending?” Lance prompts when Keith doesn’t immediately elaborate. “What do you mean?”

Keith is silent for almost an entire minute. Lance considers asking again, but something tells him that Keith is thinking very hard, not outright ignoring him. When he finally answers, Lance almost doesn’t hear him, and even then, he whispers another “what?” because there’s no way he heard Keith right.

Keith suddenly stands straight up, his shoulders squaring and chin raising ever-so-slightly. He’s still trembling, but the set of his jaw and scowling lips show no weakness. “I’m in love with you,” he barks, clearer and louder than the thunder rumbling above them. “I’m in love with you, Lance, and I can’t keep pretending that I’m not.”

Lance doesn’t freeze up, but he feels himself _stop_. He doesn’t blink, he doesn’t breathe, his heart is oddly quiet despite his recent exercise, and his brain seems to have stopped processing information. Instead, it just holds onto this new revelation, unsure of what to do with it.

Just as suddenly, Lance starts up again. He blinks several times. The air in his lungs whooshes out like he’s just been punched in the gut. His heart is suddenly all he can feel or hear. And his brain has just finally realized that _Keith mother-flippin’ Kogane is in love with him_.

Keith mother-flippin’ Kogane, who is still looking at Lance and trembling. And now that the hair is out of his face, Lance can see the deep furrow of his brows, the sheen to his eyes, and the odd pattern of moisture under his eyes. It could be the rain, but Lance sees the way his lips are wobbling and realizes with another start that he’s _crying_.

The reality of the situation nearly knocks Lance flat. Keith has been distant from him for months because he was in love with Lance, and Allura had just begun showing interest in him. Keith had just witnessed Allura _kissing_ Lance, and even worse, he had kissed _back!_ Even _with_ context, that was hard to dismiss.

Lance swore loudly. Keith’s expression briefly changed to shock. Lance didn’t blame him. He was, after all, the least potty-mouthed of their team, partially due to the fear of his Mamá and _la chancla_. If she - or really _any_ adult in his family - heard him swearing, his butt would be turned black and blue. But in situations like this, there really wasn’t anything to do _but_ curse.

“I... I didn’t know that,” is the first thing Lance can think to say. It’s such a _stupid_ thing to say, too.

Keith seems to agree, what with how he scowls again and wipes at his eyes in what he must think is a subtle way. Lance, however, isn’t deceived. “That was the _point_ of me pretending I wasn’t,” he grumbles.

“Is that why you’ve been such a jerk to me?” Lance demands. His anger is beginning to rear its ugly head again.

Keith grimaces and hides his face behind his hair again. It’s definitely a very long mullet now. “Maybe.”

“Is that why your mom hates me?”

Keith turns his head slightly to shoot Lance a puzzled look. “Krolia--” He stops and grimaces again. “My mom hates you?”

Lance feels unexpectedly proud that Keith has started trying to call Krolia his mom, now, and he thinks Krolia is happy with it too, but this isn’t the time to get sidetracked by his mushy-gushy feelings. Lance is trying to be _mad_ right now, darn it!

“Yeah, she cornered me about two days ago and said if I ever hurt you, she’d use her crazy ninja skills to assassinate me!” Lance shouts, throwing his hands out.

“Somehow, I doubt she said that,” Keith says, and if Lance looks closely enough, he can see a slight upwards tilt to his lips. Not that he’s looking there. Of course not. That’s just unprofessional, even _if_ Keith just confessed that he’s in love with Lance. Again, Lance is on a _mission_. He didn’t run all this way just to smooch Keith in the rain.

...Though he can’t deny that’s not a tempting thought.

Flushing, he shakes his head. The rain and wind is doing _nothing_ to cool his embarrassment. “M-maybe she didn’t say those words _exactly_, but it was pretty heavily implied!”

Keith rolls his eyes, and they fall quiet. The heaviness of the situation presses down on them, and all of a sudden, the mood dulls again. Keith takes a deep breath and says, in a rush, “Look, can you just reject me so we can stop chasing each other around and go inside?”

“What makes you think I’m going to reject you?”

Keith glares at him, equal parts angry and incredulous. “Because, _Lance_, it’s clear to anyone who has eyes and anyone who _doesn’t_ that you’re interested in _Allura_, not me! You just _kissed_ her for god's sake!”

“Hey, don’t drag the G-man into this,” Lance says automatically. “And, look, that-- What you just saw isn’t what you think it was. We had a talk, okay, and yes, Allura _did_ tell me that she likes me, but I-- I turned her down. That kiss was kind of unplanned. I didn’t mean to do it. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Keith barks out a loud, bitter laugh. “You’re telling me you didn’t mean to kiss her? _Eto fignya.”_

“Okay, I don’t know what that means cause I don’t speak Galran, but I know an insult when I hear one,” Lance huffs, pointing a finger at Keith. “Also, I didn’t know you knew Galran. That’s really cool.”

Keith narrows his eyes. _“Khvatit menya khvalit.”_

“Okay, well, _dos pueden jugar a ese juego_, but I’m trying to tell you that I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you too, so stop distracting me with your cool lingual skills!”

Keith’s eyes go wide, and Lance winces. “Quiznak. I didn’t mean to say it so stupidly,” he groans, covering his eyes. “There was supposed to be this whole, like, speech or something about how cute I think you are and how I don’t hate your mullet, I actually really love it, and how I literally cannot see myself spending my life with anyone other than you beside me, and--”

“Lance.”

“--how you make me want to be a better person but accept the way I am right now--”

_“Lance.”_

“--and how I really want our first date to be a _Star Wars_ movie marathon because I wanna make fun of the prequels with you and gush about the original trilogy and also just culture you because while your cultural ignorance is adorable, it’s really frustrating sometimes--”

“Lance, shut up before I _make_ you shut up!”

Lance’s mouth closes with a click. They’re quiet for a moment. Keith’s glaring at him with an inscrutable but angry-looking expression, and Lance coughs awkwardly into his fist.

“...When you say ‘make me shut up’, do you mean kissing? Because I _will_ start talking again if that’s what you meant.”

Keith face-palms, but not before Lance can see the red staining his cheeks. _“Pochemu ya lyublyu tebya?”_ he mutters, mostly to himself.

Lance takes the time to wipe his hands on his (now soaked) pants and take a deep breath. “Look, man, I know I’m making light of all of this and flirting with you and cracking jokes and whatnot, but that’s just because I’m _really_ nervous, okay? I... I’ve never liked someone as much as I like you. My crush on Allura was mostly just me putting her on a pedestal, but _you_... God, Keith, you make me go _insane_. But, like, in a good way, not in the way we kind of went crazy in that weird void thing with Lotor. I know I was rambling earlier, but I meant every word I said.”

Keith doesn’t move for a bit. Now that the adrenaline from chasing him down and receiving his confession and making his own has worn off, Lance is beginning to feel the cold. He’s going to take the longest, hottest bath he can as soon as they’re (hopefully) done kissing the crap out of each other.

“You’re serious, then?” Keith asks, looking up hesitantly. There’s a strained look on his face.

“Yes,” Lance says immediately. “It took me _way_ too long to realize it, I know, but... Keith Kogane, I’m scarily close to being in love with you.”

Keith exhales shakily. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Lance levels Keith with a deadpan stare. “You wouldn’t even talk to me long enough to discuss the _weather_. Strangely enough, I took that as a sign that if I told you how I felt, you might kick me off the team.”

“I wouldn’t throw you off the team for something like that!” Keith protests immediately.

“I know, I know! But the point stands that if you had rejected me, I wouldn’t have exactly wanted to stay on the team. I thought that if I kept my feelings to myself, it at least wouldn’t make things _completely_ unbearable.”

Keith sighs and scrubs at his face. “This is... this is a lot to process, Lance. And I’m still not sure I completely trust you.”

Lance feels Keith’s distrust like a physical blow, but he swallows down the pain. “I-I’m sorry,” he says because he can’t think of anything else to say. “I never meant to hurt you, Keith. _Never_. Please, just let me make it up to you.”

Keith peers at him warily. “How are you gonna do that?”

“I-I dunno, but I was thinking a date would be a good place to start?” Lance offers hesitantly. He braces himself for disgust or anger or any sort of adverse reaction, but it doesn’t come.

Instead, he’s blessed with the sight of Keith’s cheeks turning a delightful shade of pink. It’s a bit hard to tell with only the tiny light over the hangar door to cut through the rainstorm’s gloom, but maybe it’s a _good_ thing Lance can’t see it perfectly. He doesn’t know if his fragile, dumb heart would be able to take it.

“You... want to take me on a date?” Lance nods. “You want to take _me_ on a date?” Lance is beginning to get impatient, but he nods again. “You want to take me on a _date?”_

“Heavens above, Keith, _yes!_ Saying it in different ways isn’t going to make me change my mind!”

“I know, I’m just--! Still processing this!”

“Would me kissing you help you process it faster? Because no offense, babe, but I _really_ want to take this inside before my toes snap off.”

Keith’s blush only gets worse, and Lance is treated to his beautiful profile as he turns away to try and hide it. It doesn’t work whatsoever, but Lance still thinks it’s absolutely adorable. “Don’t say that,” Keith commands, but it’s weak.

Lance takes a step forward, feeling bold. He smirks, eyes half-lidded, as Keith glances back over at him, still a bit wary. “Say what? That I want to kiss you?” Lance asks, mock-innocent. “Why not? I thought I should never lie to my Black Paladin.”

“I-- Stop that!” Keith stammers as Lance takes another step forward. He takes a half-step back, but the hangar door is still almost right behind him. One more step from the both of them, and he’s trapped. Lance closes almost all the distance between them.

Lance reaches up slowly, and Keith tenses as he gently pushes Keith’s overgrown bangs back from his forehead. With them out of the way, his huge, galaxy-colored eyes are on perfect display. “If you don’t want me to kiss you, you’ll have to tell me now,” Lance murmurs. “Because I don’t think I’ll be able to keep restraining myself.”

Keith’s slowly turns from wary to something Lance can only describe as scared. It’s heartbreaking to see brave, unwavering Keith _scared_, especially when it’s _Lance’s_ fault he looks that way, but he knows he’ll make it up to Keith or die trying.

“How do I know you won’t hurt me again?” Keith asks, his voice impossibly small.

“You don’t,” Lance admits. “You just have to trust me. Do you trust me, Keith?”

Keith’s eyes flit down to Lance’s lips. It’s a split-second movement, but Lance sees it anyways. His Adam’s apple bobs. “Y-yeah. I do. With my life.”

That’s all Lance needs as he closes the distance between them and presses his lips to Keith’s. It’s unpleasantly wet, and Keith’s still stiff as a board, but Lance doesn’t mind because after a moment, he relaxes and kisses back. And, okay, he’s a little _too_ enthusiastic about the whole affair and almost crashes their teeth together and Lance has to push him back a little to keep that from happening, but he smiles happily at Keith’s apologetic face and wraps his arms around Keith’s neck and leads them in another, slightly gentler kiss.

Lance doesn’t know how long they spend swapping kisses, but they’re shivering and slightly numb and attracting a lot of attention when they stumble their way back into the Garrison. Lance doesn’t care one single bit, though, especially when Keith pecks his cheek shyly and murmurs goodnight and slips into his room like Lance is going to do anything other than melt into a pile of lovestruck goo and wet clothes at the action.

Eventually, Lance’s knees strengthen enough to get him inside his own room, strip out of his dripping uniform, and take the warmest shower the Garrison’s terrible hot water tanks will allow. He barely manages to change into his pajamas and finish his nightly skincare routine before collapsing into bed and screaming giddily into the pillow. He thrashes around for a minute and settles curled on his side, squeezing the life out of the plush Blue Lion his _abuela_ had made for him.

_“Dios, lo amo,”_ he whispers to the quiet of his room.

In the other room, Keith is in a similar position, but the stuffed animal is substituted for a huge, cuddly space wolf. _“Ya lyublyu yego,”_ he whispers into Kosmo’s fur, barely audible but still enough to make his heart squirm with embarrassment. Kosmo smile-pants and licks his burning cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN, THIS IS MY GIFT TO YOU GUYS!! college is a nightmare sometimes, lemme tell you. i'm ignoring my responsibilities and the pokemon au my brain hyperfixated on to finish this chapter for you guys. i didn't mean for it to take all the way until halloween to post it, but sometimes, that's just really how it be sometimes
> 
> some notes! the "galran" in this fic was just russian i took from google translate because i'm not creative enough to create my own language but i didn't want to keep typing something stupid like "keith spoke galran uwu" a million times and russian sounds really cool. the bottom of this will have the actual russian words and what google translate told me they meant. most of them are self-explanatory, but still. also, i rated this as g, but there's some bilingual swearing. i don't THINK it counts, but if you guys think it does, i'll bump it up to teen. idk if i'm gonna do another chapter, but if i do, i think it's going to be krolia and lance centric again. i can't have them hate each other for long, okay, they're gonna be mother- and son-in-law once the war's over
> 
> i think that's all i have to say for now, so if you guys leave me kudos or comments or what have you, i will die for you. love you all!!!! <3
> 
> "Galran" to Russian to English:  
Eto fignya. = Это фигня. = "That's bullshit."  
Khvatit menya khvalit. = Хватит меня хвалить. = "Stop praising me."  
Pochemu ya lyublyu tebya? = Почему я люблю тебя? = "Why do I love you?"  
Ya lyublyu yego. = Я люблю его. = "I love him."


End file.
